Authorities are investigating two separate fires that occurred at SFU’s Burnaby and Harbour Centre campuses on the same day last week.
Around noon on September 16, students and staff at Burnaby campus evacuated their classrooms and offices when a small fire erupted in the Convocation Mall parkade.
According to SFU Public Affairs and Media Relations, a campus security officer was the first to discover a vehicle on fire in the Convocation Mall parkade. A heat detector alarm simultaneously notified the Security Operations Centre of the incident.
The security officer deployed a fire extinguisher to contain the fire, while the Burnaby Fire Department responded in time to extinguish the fire before it could damage private property or university infrastructure. The parkade was able to re-open for regular operations approximately 30 minutes after the incident.
Later that same day, students flooded out of SFU’s Harbour Centre campus after a minor fire started on the southwest corner of the building’s roof.
Shortly after 6:00 p.m., students lined West Hastings and West Cordova as fire crews arrived at the scene. Roads were closed to accommodate fire services.
Although the cause of the fire is still unclear, Scott McLean, director of public relations at SFU Vancouver, told The Peak that the incident was dealt with swiftly and without complication.
“Thanks to the quick work of the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services, along with the Vancouver Police Department, the fire was extinguished and the building reopened at 7:10 p.m., with classes and events resuming at that time,” McLean explained. “The cause of the fire is still being investigated, and there was some slight water damage to four offices on the seventh floor.”
SFU Safety & Risk Services released a statement to The Peak, expressing that while SFU has extensive fire safety response plans in place, it is up to the public to take their safety seriously: “As thorough as these plans are, the critical piece is the community’s reaction and compliance to fire safety guidelines and evacuation, because safety is a shared responsibility.”
